Godiva Redux
by MissScaryKitty
Summary: Ever since K-Day, Adelphi has dedicated her life to protecting what's left of her family. She was convinced that in order to stay strong she had to become as hard as the Jaeger she piloted. But when funding for the Jaeger program gets cut and the final days of battle are upon them, she must learn to trust in others to protect all that she holds most dear. Tendo/OC
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When word got out that Godiva Redux and her crew were being transferred to Hong Kong, it was all the residents of the Shatterdome could talk about. There was a constant buzz in the air and the two names on everyone's lips were Adelphi Mooz and Mathias Ansa.

Some were excited, others were upset but after a couple of months things settled down. Everyone got back into their own routine and those who worked with Godiva's crew found out it wasn't as big of a deal as they first supposed. Besides, in the face of the apocalypse, one can only be star struck for so long.

Hong Kong

4:00am

Adelphi lay in bed with the engineer she had brought back to her room for the evening fast asleep beside her. She was somewhere between dreaming and waking, her naked body tangled up in the sweaty bed sheets. Just when she was about to slip into a deep sleep the Kaiju warning siren went off. It immediately startled her awake as the steel bunker she called her home suddenly flooded with a bright red light. It began to blink on and off, accosting her vision before plunging her into blackness again. The calm, automated female voice she was well accustomed to came on over the intercom then. Adelphi could only catch snippets of what the woman was saying.

'... Category III... Razorclaw... 300 miles...'

Ripping her arm free from the sheets, the ranger slammed her hand down on the com button near her bedside table.

"It's Adelphi, Godiva's got this one... Morning by the way."

Up in Mission Control, Tendo Choi amusedly leaned back in his chair, a smile playing at his lips as he patched himself into her room.

"Roger that, Adelphi. Just get Mr. Ansa up and this bad boy's all yours."

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed, Adelphi grabbed up her panties from last night, threw on her boots and a jumpsuit and ran to the door. Before opening it she turned back to the groaning lump in her bed,

"Hey, you gotta go," she informed the groggy engineer. "Make sure no one sees you when you leave."

"The fuck?" he exclaimed.

Before she had to deal with her disgruntled bedmate (whose name she was now forgetting), the ranger shut the door behind her and headed across the hall to her partner's room. She pounded on the dappled metal several times with her fist before shouting, "Hey, get up! This one's ours, Mathias, so rise and shine!"

There was a raspy shout of acknowledgement from inside letting Adelphi know he was getting ready. Satisfied, she leaned against the wall and waited for him.

The three members of the Crimson Typhoon came swaggering out from their rooms, half dressed and looking bitchy as usual. The eldest crossed his arms in front of him as the rest of the team joined him on his stoop.

*"She always gets the morning calls," one of them grumbled, looking over at Adelphi with narrowed eyes. He looked like a child who had just gotten his toy stolen from him.

Adelphi shrugged with a sly grin, overly pleased with herself that she had once again beat Crimson Typhoon to the call. They had a silent rivalry between them on who could make the most kills. Today, this fight was all hers... and Mathias' if he'd get his ass ready.

*"Sorry, light sleeper," she told them before beating her fist on her partner's door again.

Finally it creaked open and Mathias came trudging out with a frown and dark circles under his blue eyes.

"Shit, what happened?" she asked.

"Didn't get much sleep last night," he muttered.

"Yeah, well neither did I," she joked, leading him down the stairs. "Common we'll get you some coffee."

"What's the category?" he sighed, zipping up his jacket as they made their way down the hall.

"Three."

"Christ," he murmured, fighting off a yawn. "Well, let's do this."

"Atta boy!" she exclaimed before picking up the pace.

As was usual for the team, Mathias raced to keep up with his partner.

AN: I've been debating whether or not I should post this story so please let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

Adelphi zigzagged through the heavy traffic on the Shatterdome floor with a determined strut, her partner Mathias in tow. Despite his long legs, he was practically jogging to keep up with her.

Once they were in the armory, safe from speeding forklifts and heavy machinery, they began to suit up. The male ranger said nothing about his partner's lack of a bra. It wasn't like it was the first time but it always caught him a bit off guard. He simply turned the other direction and tried not to sneak a look. Just as long as they survived this mission and he could get a nice big breakfast afterwards, he'd be fine.

Adelphi was done jumping into her Drivesuit way before her partner and decided to put on some finishing touches while she waited. Turning to the pile of clothes she left on the floor, she dug into the pocket of her jumpsuit and pulled out a little makeup compact. Opening it, she rubbed her index finger into a disk of black makeup and began to smear it across her eyelids.

"One of those days?" Mathias asked, seeing she had broken out her war paint.

"Damn straight," she told him proudly, smudging it on both her upper and lower lids. When she was finished, she checked herself in the little mirror one last time before snapping the compact closed.

Adelphi used to wear her makeup for every battle but not so much anymore- not now that humanity was on the losing end of the battle and Kaiju attacks were becoming more and more frequent. So Mathias knew she was having a good day when she donned her makeup. It meant she was focused and ready. He only hoped that he'd be too when the time came.

Once the team was fully outfitted in their Drivesuits, they headed up to the loading dock of their mech. Godiva Redux was a Mark IV Jaeger, it's design was inspired by the medieval knights of Europe. The ten billion dollar mech was mainly outfitted with weapons specified for bludgeoning and bone breaking like the arm-mace and cauterizing broadsword.

Adelphi and Mathias specialized in broadsword and rapier sparring. Before the devastating events of K-Day, they were fight instructors for the San Francisco Shakespeare Company and before that, childhood friends. Their unique, seemingly obsolete fighting technique turned out to be extremely efficient for taking down Kaiju and being that they were performers in a past life, they knew how to put on a good show… especially Adelphi. She had a certain knack for making everything glitter for the cameras.

Adelphi knew that to survive this new world, being jaeger pilots was not enough- they had to be a sensation. With fame came sponsors and merchandise deals, everything that would keep them afloat in these hard times. Of course, with the turning of the war, that was all gone now. The only reason Mathias had never objected to Adelphi's encouragement of the press was because he knew she had her reasons… and they were damn good ones. He had no family left but she had her brother and sisters to think of and he knew better than anyone that she would do whatever she had to in order to take care of them. And even though she couldn't be with them, that check they received in the mail every month helped to ensure their survival.

Once they were loaded into their harnesses and got their helmets on, they alerted Tendo and his team and prepared for the drop. The locks holding the giant mech head opened up and, for a brief moment, they were suspended in a stomach turning free fall before being secured onto the body of their jaeger.

Adelphi began to check her coms then.

"Hey, LOCCENT, can you hear me?" she asked, listening for both Officer Choi's voice and any feedback of her own that might be crowding up the connection.

"Copy, ranger, you're good to go," Tendo confirmed.

"Great, no bad feelings on this one right?" She asked with a laugh.

"No, Ranger, we got you," he reassured her.

Adelphi was always extra careful with checking her communication gear now after an incident that had left both her and Mathias cut off from Mission Control during a Kaiju attack. The connection failure had almost cost the crew their lives. Luckily, both parties remained calm and they were able to come out on top in the end.

"Um, this is Ranger Ansa checking in with you LOCCENT… I'm just going to keep talking to you until you…"

"I hear you Ansa," came Tendo's reply. "Alright, Godiva, stand by for neural handshake."

Officer Choi's fingers expertly flew across the keyboard, his eyes darting between the three display screens in front of him.

Finished preparing for the handshake on their end, Adelphi looked over at Mathias and offered him a grin. The man seemed to be trying to get into the groove and shake off his nerves.

"Hey, you ready?" she asked, knowing he was a bit out of sorts.

Mathias nodded curtly, "Yeah, just wish it wasn't four in the damn morning."

Entering one last code into the system, Tendo leaned into the mike once more.

"Initiating neural handshake."

Both pilots braced themselves and with one press of a button, Adelphi and Mathias were sucked into the drift. Their memories swirled about one another in one big blue haze. Images and snippets of their lives- questionable behavior, personal moments, and horrifying experiences- all passed by them in the blink of an eye. But what they had to focus on was the cool, calm silence of the drift. In a matter of moments, their bodies experienced a synchronized jolt and the two pilots became one mind.

Adelphi felt the familiar sensation of Mathias in her head and that of her own consciousness poking around in his. She had come to realize over the years that feelings of nervousness and fear were normal for him, in fact he had gotten a lot better at reigning in his emotions the more missions they went on. However, to her disappointment, the tiresome longing he felt for her never seemed to diminish. She never acknowledged it and neither did he, but it was always present in the drift- a guilty reminder to her of why he became a jaeger pilot in the first place.

Adelphi then heard Officer Choi's voice in her ear, bringing her mind back into sharp focus.

"Left hemisphere calibrated… Right hemisphere calibrated. Godiva, you are good to go," he told them.

Taking a sip of lukewarm coffee from his mug, Tendo watched as the helicopter squad lifted Godiva Redux up and out of the Shatterdome.

Now that the crew were on their way to the drop point, Adelphi figured they could kill some time with learning a little bit about their opponent.

"Hey Tendo, you got any stats on this bad boy?" she asked.

The J-tech officer smirked as he pulled up a profile of the Kaiju on his screen. People could say what they wanted about Adelphi, he thought, but she always did her homework. "Well, as you know, he's a category III, codename Razorclaw. He's reptilian in appearance as opposed to fishlike with the typical four-arm structure. His main fighting mechanism appears to be his dominant upper arms which end in two giant razor claws that are capable of severing a jaeger in half."

Adelphi looked over to Mathias and pulled an odd face upon hearing that last bit of information.

"Charming. Any weaknesses?" she asked.

Tendo ran a hand through his slicked back hair as he studied the specs in front of him.

"There seems to be less armor around the neck area and underbelly," he answered, still looking to see if they might have any other advantages over the Kaiju. "You can forget about those arms though. Just don't let him get a solid hit on you or we'll be taking home only half a jaeger."

"Right. Basically we make one wrong move and we get our heads chopped off. Sounds like Pentecost in the mornings doesn't it?" she joked, pulling a smart-assed grin. Her smile began to fall, however, when she didn't hear any laughter on the other end. "He's standing right there isn't he?"

"Indeed I am, Ranger," Pentecost's accented voice boomed over the mike. "But we will discuss that later. It's time to get to work."

"So, what's our game plan, Sir?" Came Mathia's voice over the speaker system.

He was always more adept to taking orders than Adelphi was. She mainly put her faith in her crew and j-tech team whereas he relied on those with higher authority to guide them safely through their missions.

Pentecost leaned over Officer Choi's shoulder so that he could speak into the microphone.

"Intercept Razorclaw in the water, deter him from the populous, and then take him out."

"Right," Mathias confirmed.

"Alright, Godiva, you are nearing the drop point. Prepare to disengage."

AN: Hope you all enjoyed! and please remember to review :) thanks!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Adelphi and Mathias saw Razorclaw cleaving through the waves, heading straight for the coastline.

"We have visual on the Kaiju, Sir. He's closing in fast on the harbor," Adelphi informed LOCCENT.

Tendo magnified the screen in front of him, showing the Kaiju swim over an imaginary yellow line drawn across the harbor.

"He has already passed the Golden Mile, Sir," he tells Pentecost.

"Frontrunner, plant Godiva right in front of that monster," Pentecost ordered the helicopter squad. "We need to cut it off before it reaches the shore."

"Roger that, Sir." Mike Stevens, the leader of the helo team, confirmed.

Adelphi watched anxiously as they closed in on the beast, their point of intersection growing smaller and smaller as they grew ever closer to the coastline. It seemed like Razorclaw had a good chance of reaching land before they could get to him and this made her more anxious than anything. She knew they couldn't let another city get destroyed. Hong Kong was chocked full of civilians, and the devastation would be crippling.

The terrifying events of K-Day were always fresh in her mind; reminding her what damage a single Kaiju was capable of. Luckily, it seemed as if they would catch Razorclaw just in time. They were able to line up perfectly with the Kaiju right at the mouth of the harbor.

The moment they were in position, Godiva was hastily released into the water. Adelphi and Mathias had to bend their knees in order to ease their heavy fall and prevent them from jamming anything.

Razorclaw immediately reared up out of the water upon being blocked by the huge mech. They knew this would enrage it, making their job harder, but it was better than allowing it to wreak havoc in the city.

Once Godiva's feet were firmly planted on the ocean floor they engaged their weapon of choice- the cauterizing broadsword. Stacking their fists, one on top of the other in first position, the long double-edged blade released itself from its hidden sheath in the jaeger's hands. The thick blade began to glow bright orange as it heated up to searing temperatures.

Razorclaw took notice of their flashy showmanship and let out an aggressive, ground shaking roar before charging them. The creature's claws dug deep into the filthy silt of Hong Kong Harbor as it bounded towards the jaeger.

"Let's kill this bastard!" Adelphi yelled as they readied for the initial clash.

Mathias took a deep breath, attempting to chase away his nerves. The drift was cluttered with memories today- One of Adelphi's in particular immediately sobered him up...

_Adelphi heard the jets shoot overhead once more. She could tell they were about to execute another airstrike. Pushing her brother and sisters into the nearest corner, she caged them in with her body, shielding them from the worst of the explosion. It was all she could do to protect them. Never in her life had she felt so small, so exposed and so helpless. She knew that they were staring into the face of the apocalypse. _

_A loud noise, like a series of three pops then a roll of deep thunder, could be heard from a few blocks away. The entire apartment began to shake violently. Large chunks of plaster and cement rained down as the grating sound of stone against metal filled their ears. When the dust cleared, they could see that the entire front of the building had collapsed._

_The only thing Adelphi could hear was a high frequency ringing in her ears- all the screaming, the explosions and the aftershocks were silent. Her hearing would suddenly come rushing back to her, dragging her back into the madness. But for now, she looked down at her family, desperately counting to see if she still had everyone. She rapidly tallied them over and over again, in shock and relief that they were all still alive._

The memory had washed over him and pulled away like the ocean retreating at low tide, leaving him clear and ready to fight. He rarely ever saw memories of K-Day, especially Adelphi's. Those that he did see always tore him up inside. But they also reminded him why he fought.

Both their eyes narrowed in determination as they stared down the charging Kaiju. They raised their arms over their heads in unison, bringing the sword down onto the beasts' claws. A shower of sparks flew into the water as it made contact. Little to no damage had been done to the Kaiju. However, it threw it off balance thus giving Godiva another chance to strike. Swinging the blade down low by the hips, they were able to get at the soft underbelly as the creature went stumbling past them.

"Yes!" Adelphi exclaimed as Razorclaw fell down in the water, roaring in pain.

Back at LOCCENT, Tendo rolled his chair to the leftmost screen and studied the new readings.

"A clean strike but Razorclaw's vitals are still holding strong," he reported.

Pentecost crossed his arms in front of him as he watched the battle from over Tendo's shoulder. He knew he could let Godiva carry on with their mission uninterrupted so he said nothing about their progress.

Down in the water, Razorclaw didn't bother to regain his footing. Instead, he did the unexpected, and swiped Godiva's legs out from under her, causing her to crash down into the waves along with him.

Adelphi could feel Mathias' anxiety skyrocket as he realized what had happened and she knew they had to get in control of the situation or else he might have a full-blown panic attack.

Tendo had to do a double-take when he saw Mathias' vitals spike so rapidly, "Ansa, your readings are way above normal, have you been injured?"

"Negative, we're fine," Adelphi answered quickly, all the while trying to remain calm for Mathias. An episode like this hadn't happened in years. She couldn't help but wonder what triggered it.

To LOCCENT, it looked as if their sensors were merely malfunctioning. However, what was actually taking place was far more dangerous. Adelphi knew Mathias' problem put them all at risk whenever they stepped into a jaeger, but she wouldn't let that stop them. It was imperative to keep his anxiety a secret or else they would be kicked out of the core.

Adelphi wanted to help him in his moment of panic, however Razorclaw would not wait for them to recover. In fact, the beast was already back on its feet ready to strike again.

_'Focus Mathias, I am here,' _she told him through their neural connection. _'Listen to my voice. Remember? Just listen to my voice and concentrate.'_

Adelphi saw the Kaiju raise its clawed arms, preparing to strike them in half and she could hear LOCCENT yelling in her ear about taking evasive action. Her will to act was strong but she could do nothing without her partner's compliance. The pain from Mathias' anxiety had caused her mind to veer off course. It was like someone was driving a corkscrew into the back of her head.

_'MATHIAS!' _

Her desperate scream tore through their neural connection and gripped a hold of him. It felt as if she were only inches away from him, grabbing his face in her hands and attempting to shake him to his senses. It was those pleading gray eyes of hers, filled up with terror, that pulled him back to reality. Gaining control enough to realize their situation, Mathias worked with Adelphi to roll out of the way of Razorclaw's strike.

Their perilous position soon turned to one of great advantage as they spotted the previous wound they had made in the underbelly of the beast. Razorclaw had unknowingly exposed his weakness to them.

Thrusting the broadsword forwards, they pierced the creature's wound once more and in a sawing motion, attempted to gut it. However, Razorclaw reared up and ripped himself away before they could finish the job. No doubt he had caused further damage to himself in his attempt to retreat.

Rolling up to a standing position, Godiva readied her arm missiles. With a quick 'click', 'clank', 'clunk', she was ready to fire. Pointing her fist to the gaping hole in Razorclaw's belly, the mech shot three rockets into it.

"Three direct hits, Sir!" Tendo informed Pentecost.

The J-Tech officer had to breath out a quiet sigh of relief, his eyes fixed to the screen in front of him so no one could see. Although Godiva was back on track, he was sweating in his seat for a minute there. Ansa's readings were all wrong and he had seen this too many times for it to be a simple mistake. There wasn't one Jaeger team he knew that didn't have a large amount of emotional baggage. He just hoped that if Godiva were to go down, that wouldn't be the reason.

Razorclaw threw back his head, blue blood gushing from the corners of his mouth as he roared out in angry defeat. The creature swung at them weakly in a last attempt to strike them down. His aim was practically nonexistent and he moved too far slowly. Godiva simply stepped aside and watched as he fell into the water. Standing over him, they raised their sword overhead, the sharp tip aimed at the base of Razorclaw's neck, and brought it down on him in one final killing blow.

Back in LOCCENT, the members of mission control watched as the light left the kaiju's eyes.

"Vitals reading at zero," Tendo informed them. "Congratulations on another kill, Godiva. We're sending out a chopper team to return you to base."

Adelphi nodded, "Roger that, LOCCENT."

As they headed to a safe distance away from the spreading pool of Kaiju blue, she heard Mathias' voice in her head.

_'I'm sorry, Addi.'_

His tone was remorseful, mixed with an undercurrent of exhaustion. The last layers of fear had fallen away leaving him clear-headed and perfectly aware that he had almost cost them the mission.

_'Forget it Mathias,_' she sighed through their neural connection._ 'Just try to keep a lid on it next time.'_

She knew that in the drift her partner could feel her anger and frustration, but that didn't prevent her from trying to cover it up. Perhaps the attempt was all that really mattered. At least it showed she still cared for him.

Mathias knew Adelphi didn't need him to survive, but he desperately needed someone to fight for. She was all he had left in the world- everyone else he knew was gone. And even though she was as tough as the Jaeger they drove, he knew he loved her. Like a sick puppy, Mathias was willing follow her anywhere. Hell, he joined the PPDC just to be with her. And even though she had never given him any indication of returning his feelings, he still clung to hope that one day, perhaps when all this was over, she'd love him back.

I would love a review, it kinda keeps me going. There will be Tendo/Adelphi interaction in the next chapter so get pumped!


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